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German Cinema: A Critical Filmography to 1945

German Cinema: A Critical Filmography to 1945 traces the history of German cinema from the first days of public film exhibition to the final days of the Third Reich. Each of the 100 entries in this volume—penned by the leading scholars in the field—offers a sophisticated yet accessible discussion of an important film produced during some of the most successful and problematic years of German film history.

The fascinating and turbulent period examined in this volume begins with the sometimes-neglected German contribution to ‘early cinema’ before WWI and includes both the heights of German cinema (the avant-garde and popular cinema of the Weimar Republic) and its depths (the propaganda films of Nazi Germany). Many of the films considered have established themselves firmly within the canon of German (and often world) cinema and their directors are among the most influential in world film history, particularly after the emigration of many in the 1930s: Lang, Murnau, Lubitsch, Pabst, Richter, Ruttmann, Sierck (Sirk), etc. Some of the films are among the most notorious ever made. Others were popular in their time, only to be forgotten as the years passed. Many have never received the attention they are due—until now.

German Cinema: A Critical Filmography to 1945 cuts across directors, stars, genres, styles and historical periods in a way that no traditional film history is able, providing a means to examine continuities and differences in the films produced in Germany from the Empire through the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich.

Todd Herzog is an Associate Professor of German Studies at the University of Cincinnati. He is editor of A New Germany in a New Europe (Routledge 2001, with Sander Gilman) and Rebirth of a Culture (Berghahn 2008, with Hillary Hope Herzog and Benjamin Lapp) and author of Crime Stories (Berghahn, 2009). He is currently working on a study of cinema and surveillance.
Todd Heidt is a Visiting Assistant Professor of German at Knox College. He has edited a volume of Focus on German Studies (2008), as well as published on Alfred Döblin's epic realism and W.G. Sebald's use of photographs in Die Ausgewanderten/The Emigrants. He is currently expanding on his dissertation research on multi-media narratology in the Weimar Republic.

New Bazin collection

A mammoth 503-page collection of writings by André Bazin throughout his entire career. Twenty-six texts with a major essay by Jacques Aumont and extensive annotations by the translator, including a glossary of terms. The only corrected and annotated edition of Bazin’s writings in any language.